


A Unique Family

by TeriH



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 13:11:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18621304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeriH/pseuds/TeriH
Summary: Originally published in So Much Fer Easy #16 (Neon RainBow Press, 2011)Written in response to a VinList Finish The Story ChallengeFamily is sometimes hard to define.





	A Unique Family

_There had been a time when Vin hadn't needed to consider how his actions might affect anyone but himself.  That time was gone.  He now had family.  A family that would stand with him no matter the consequences of the recent events.  He looked around at the others and wondered . . . Could he have done anything differently?_

~~~~~~

The jury had been deliberating for the past 3 hours.  AD Travis had shoo'ed the team out of the courtroom saying he would call when the verdict was returned.  Vin would have happily sat in a jail cell and awaited the outcome.  No matter what the 12 people on the jury said, he would always feel guilty.   Because of him a mother and father would never again hug their only child. Because of him two children would grow up not knowing their mother.    He had taken that away from them.  He deserved to pay . . . but not the others.

Vin knew he should distance himself from his team or he would drag them down with him. He wore his guilt like a cloak, cutting off the others, keeping even Chris away. 

~~~~~~

Chris cast a sideways glance in Vin's direction.  He knew that guilt was eating his friend alive.  He also knew it had been a righteous shoot.  Vin had done the only thing he could, but how to convince his friend.

When all the facts were in, Internal Affairs had cleared the sharpshooter. Then, one day at lunch a 'suit' had waltzed into the Saloon and asked for Vincent Tanner. Vin had been 'served.' The 'perps' parents were filing a civil suit.  Wrongful death. 

Chris stopped himself.  No 'perp' was the wrong term. 'victim' was more like it, because that is what the young woman who died that day was in reality.  Not a victim of Vin Tanner, but a victim of drug abuse and circumstance. But how to convince his friend of that?

Chris watched as Vin slowly isolated himself from the rest of the team. The chair slipping farther into the dark corner, the shoulders hunching ever deeper into the dark suit coat the man had worn for court.  The twinkle missing from the dull blue eyes that darted about the room.  Vin reminded him of a caged animal as he withdrew ever farther into his own world, virtually unapproachable even to his friends.

Chris eyes swept around the table.  He knew the others were waiting for him to take the lead. To bring their brother back into the fold, but he was at a loss as to how.

~~~~~~

Vin thought back to his days as a bounty hunter.  It was an honest profession. Not highly respected, but honest. There was no one to worry about, no one to get hurt, no one to let down. No one but Vin Tanner, the lone wolf.  He answered to no one save himself . . . and he was lonely if he was honest with himself. The day his eyes met Chris's across that crowded room he knew what it was to have a brother and with that brother came a rather unique family. Most might not understand it, but that is what they were . . . family. 

It hadn't been a teammate that was threatened that day, the day the girl died, it was family.  

The bust had gone fine. They had been there only as back-up for Team 3 and were helping with clean-up when the drugged-out mother of two had wandered into the warehouse demanding to buy drugs.  JD had moved in to escort her from the scene when she grabbed a gun, that gone unnoticed on a stack of crates, and fired at the young agent.

Vin could still see the blood as it pooled around JD's prone body.  The bullet from her gun lodged in the young man's chest.  Vin had aimed intent to simply bring her down. The first bullet entering her thigh.  The young woman had barely stumbled. The PCP in her system acting as both an anesthetic and a stimulant.  She was almost on top of JD, gun pointed at agents head, when he fired the second shot. The shot that ended her life and forever changed the lives of her children.  It was all so senseless.

The ring of Chris's phone pulled Vin from his musing. 

"Larabee . . . We'll be right over, sir . . . Vin, the jury's in, it's time to go."

Vin watched as the others stood and with a nod from Larabee headed for the exit.

"Vin it was her or JD. You didn't have a choice."

Chris voice was full of conviction but could he have done anything differently? 

Vin looked toward at the young man waiting for him at the exit door. He was still slightly pale after the ordeal and his arm was in a sling, but he was alive.

A sad smile touched Vin's lips and he reached for the outstretched hand of his friend, his brother.  Chris tugged him to his feet and the grasp moved from clasped hands to the familiar forearm grip that signified their commitment, their bond.  Could he have done anything differently? No, he knew he had done the only thing he could and Chris had assured him that the jury would see that too.  But whatever the outcome, they would face it together, a family.

The End

 


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